The UO, with the consent of the abutting property owners, applied for the vacation of a portion of Moss Street extending from East 15th Avenue to East 17th Avenue. Moss Street is located just east of campus, but you’re probably not familiar with East Campus, because it’s opposite West Campus—the area in which you either live or party or both. You can find Moss Street in the shadow of Matthew Knight Arena, and along it you can find the site of the new East Campus Residence Hall, an exquisite gravel parking lot, a couple of houses converted into UO offices, and the sad, displaced Moss Street Children’s Center.

The Eugene City Council held a public hearing Monday night with the Moss Street ordinance first on their agenda. Four people stood and spoke on behalf of the ordinance, three of which were a tri-part UO tag team: the VP of Finance and Administration, the assistant VP of Student Affairs, and some landscape architect. They each presented a few reasons why vacating Moss Street was in the “public interest.” They claimed that the purchase of Moss Street is part of the UO’s “strategic effort to steer parking away from its surrounding neighborhoods,” allowing the UO to transform Moss Street’s 60 parallel parking spaces into 107 head-in parking spaces. The benevolent UO also says that they really just want to “lessen the burden” on the city, repair sidewalks, add better lighting and maintain the landscaping themselves.

At the hearing, the public produced only one person in opposition, a certain Zachary Bishnoff, “former” UO student and concerned citizen. Zachary moved us all with some of that lukewarm, quintessentially Eugene, stick-it-to-the-man rhetoric we all know and love: this will turn the historic Fairmount Neighborhood into a suburban office park, how does UO know what is in the public interest, I have a ponytail and a mustache, blah blah blah. Well to mine and the UO tag team’s surprise, and I think to Zachary’s as well, the council responded to this plea and voted to delay the vacating another two weeks, giving time for further deliberation and for anyone else to submit their concerns to the council.

Adjourned, bitches. Democracy at a local level throws an eensy-weensy wrench in the inexorable gears of the University of Oregon and its malicious encroachment upon the city of Eugene. Well, you can bet that I’ll be submittin’ nothin’ to the council in my allotted two weeks. You know why? Not only does the UO already own all property adjacent to this portion of Moss Street, but the UO’s gonna fork out a cool 1.8 million to the city of Eugene for those ugly 1.35 acres (58,729 square feet). I just know that number makes Mayor Kitty Piercy purrrrrrrrrrr. Today I walked down Moss Street myself and I couldn’t even tell I was off campus. Call me indifferent, but I hereby conclude that the UO’s motion to purchase part of Moss Street is not that big of a deal. But read the ordinance and form your own opinions here.

just to start off…..your top Duck got Duck pond dumped for little quack attacks just like this deadending of Moss….one too many…the new partnership (bs) “plan” is simply to make these pesky delays during expansion more swift…..pesky details like approving eminent domain…..demolitions…..contracting…or no bid contracting…UO wants to be able to see a house….buy it the next afternoon…..doze it the next morning and have a athletes only Nike Lamborghini parking spot by the next evening…..having stuff like that approved by a board keeps the UO Foundation land clearing agenda and related money laundering so much more difficult. A model of success has been the Kilkenny Courtside arrangement on Villard. UO is not a real estate developer…..if it feels the need to revitalize there is nothing of value downtown….they should be steered there. They need to build denser parking facilities closer to the campus core or Franklin. Zelenka got the council to allow two weeks because he feels guilty about a long list of underhanded dealing related to past land use shenanigans and backroom arrangements that occurred surrounding UO development into Fairmount. At one time there were many at the OC who opposed eminent domain (even by UO)…..if you are going to seize land for PHIT LLC or Kilkenny or any of the Duckmafia sportporkers it has gotta go quickly….or approve bonding……partial solution: whack Mac for the damn indoor track (those sportporkers would love a indoor track where Moss and Villard ar now)